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(For your convenience, you will find downloadable bio, head shot, and Baltimore Jewish Times review of Terry’s current one-woman show, Bessie Bluefeld at the bottom of this page.)

A conversation with Terry Rose Nicholetti

How did you get to be Terry Rose & Company, and how long have you been doing this?

Before launching Terry Rose & company™ I tried eight times to start my own business based on sharing something important that I had learned, something that could make a difference in other people’s lives, with people like you… and each time…I “failed.” I also learned, I grew, and I created some very cool products. But I never quite achieved the level of success I hoped for.

It’s not that I wasn’t talented, or that my products and programs weren’t any good. I had after all won an award for my How to Fill Your Sales Funnel program that I developed when selling subscriptions at Washington Business Journal. My first book was picked up by an agent and sold to Carroll and Graf publishers. My two one-woman shows, both based on the theme of self-acceptance, won places in DC’s Madcap Winter Carnival of New Works. I even got rave reviews and referrals from my speaking coach, Arnold Sanow, an author who has trained thousands of public speakers.

But as soon as I tried to take something to market, to grow a business, I’d get stuck, and I’d be back looking for a “job job” to pay the bills. (That’s how I got my 35 years’ experience in sales and marketing!)

What was causing me to get so stuck? I worked really hard, spent thousands of dollars on therapists, coaches, workshops and trainings over the years, and gradually, in layers, the answers came. I want to share the ones that relate specifically to my work.

When I grew up, in the late fifties and early sixties, women mostly became mothers, secretaries, teachers or nurses. So even though I loved writing and being on stage, I really believed that those careers were only for people who were beautiful and already famous. My talents were not good enough.

At home, my mother and father did the very best that they could to raise me, given their own limitations. But in an alcoholic home, the very best can also be very wounding. One of the ways my mother coped with her own fears was by trying to control me, usually by yelling and hitting, when I wanted to do something unusual or challenging.

So without realizing it, I formed a belief that if I wanted something, especially if I wanted to shine in public, I would get in very big trouble, maybe even get killed. (Little children are very literal.) This very limiting belief was frozen in a block of fear, deep in my subconscious.

That fear also led me to enter the convent at age 18.The nuns had always been kind to me. I was not prepared for the reinforcement of my fears that was to follow.

In the early sixties, Catholic schools were understaffed because of a shortage of nuns, and so at age 20, I was sent out to teach a class of 48 first graders. I had no training, no experience, and no teacher’s aide. I woke up every morning terrified, and came back to the convent every afternoon exhausted.

By the end of the year, I experienced what used to be called a “nervous breakdown” and was sent back to the motherhouse. The blow to my self-esteem from that “failure” was deep and painful, and affected my professional self-confidence for years to come.

My healing journey has been long and challenging, and it’s not over. But with the help of skilled professionals, as well as my spiritual teachers, I’ve transformed my fears enough so that I was able to free up my blocked passion to make a difference in the world by teaching what I’m learning.

And what am I learning? That self-love and acceptance of exactly where we are right now, without judgment, is the real work under all the other work. It’s the foundation, the requirement for all lasting growth and change.

We need to be able to sit with the truth of what is happening in the moment, without judgment, because that is how we access our deepest, most real selves – the self that some call SOUL, Divine Spark, Source, Atmah, Buddha or even Element (Sir Ken Robinson). I sometimes call it Mother/Father God, and sometimes Creative Source Energy.

Sitting with ourselves in the moment is also how we connect with the power of intention, the power of “why.” When we are free from fear, even for a while, we can come to know what we truly care about, what matters most to us, what we most want to accomplish.

My fears are not all gone…not by a long shot! But each time they arise, I now have the tools to transform them… again… as many times as it takes. They no longer prevent me from living my fullest, happiest, most productive life. These are some of the insights that form the foundation of my SOUL FIRST Communications, whether I’m doing sales training, performing in a show, or writing about a life-lesson I want to share.

This is my source of joy, and I want to share it with you!

But what does this have to do with becoming a sales trainer, or actor, or writer? And how are you different from others?

One of the results of my 35 years experience in sales and marketing, as well as my own attempts at entrepreneurship, is that I LOVE professionals and entrepreneurs (especially artists and wellness workers) who are passionate about how their work can make a difference in people’s lives. So I began to ask myself, “What can I add to what’s already out there, especially when I’m speaking or training?”

I’m a teacher and actor with 35 years experience in sales and marketing. I can teach you all the sales and networking skills you’d ever want to know. But because of all my years of transforming my deepest and most limiting fears, I also know how to help you to transform your fears, and to use that same energy to empower your work and WOW your contacts.

It has been very helpful to me to think of all my frozen fear memories as a scared little girl who lives deep inside me. (And now, neuroscientists like Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain, are telling us that this is more than just sentimental metaphor!) As I began giving “my little girl” a voice, and listening to what she had to say, I was better able to connect with those fears and soften them up, so I could transform their energy into a sense of my own power. I think of it as introducing that scared little girl to the competent adult woman you already are.

I’d like to introduce you to your “scared little one inside.” Working together, speaking out skillfully from your own brilliance, the “two of you” will be unstoppable as you grow a substantially larger business by reaching many more clients with your message.

And here’s another difference. I know that besides uncovering and transforming our fears, our power to act comes from our ability to connect with our own Creative Source Energy deep within ourselves. In other words…our SOULS. I’ve been studying that process ever since I left the convent in 1968. Through my dad’s admission of his alcoholism, late in his 70’s, I became involved in 12-step programs. While they no longer are part of my life, I will always be grateful for the practice of connecting with my spiritual self on a daily basis.

Because I was hungry for more, I was led to metaphysical teachers such as Catherine Ponder and Eric Butterworth, and eventually to teachers such as Byron Katie, and Louise Hay, as well as Abraham-Hicks and the Law of Attraction. I also became student of Buddhist meditation, especially as taught by Tara Brach and Jonathan Faust.

My SOUL FIRST™ Communications (speaking training, performing) are infused with these teachings because I know that when we connect with our own Creative Source Energy, under all the limiting beliefs and suffering, the possibilities for creating a meaningful, joyful life, not to mention a powerful and enjoyable presentation, are limitless!

And finally, I’m an actor, an entertainer. Even my workshop to sell subscriptions for Washington Business Journal had a rap song I performed at the end of the session, called, “Are you hot, or not?”

When we work together, I promise you that you will actually enjoy the process!

Got questions? just email me at terry@terrynicholetti.com and I’ll email you back with my best answers. Then we can set up a Get Acquainted call, to go over the different options to see which one will be the very best for you. I can’t wait to see you succeed, and I’d love to be the one to help you.